Porn Valley- I was on the set of Vampire Chronicles Tuesday afternoon. It’s the first shoot from a new company called ArchAngel which is headed by director Jennifer James and former porn actress Dru Berrymore. The cast in this high definition extravaganza [ the camera is about the size of a bazooka and am told goes about $120,000] includes Julie Meadows, Nick Manning, Shay Sights, Nicki Hunter, Julie Knight, Lauren Phoenix, Olivia O’Lovely, Venus, Steven St. Croix, Kyle Stone and Yasmine.
I think the last time I was at this location in the Hollywood Hills which is known as “The Castle” was a Peter Davy shoot maybe 13 years ago. The only things I pretty much remember about that production was an 8 by 10 glossy of David Hasselhof sitting on one of the bed stands and a British caterer named Eddie who made a great fresh guacamole. Of course director James remembers Davy. In fact James remembers quite vividly losing money in a deal involving Davy as do a lot of people in the porn industry. Funny how porn people have certain things in common. I’m still trying to get the story out of one video company owner how he lost $750,000 on a Bucks Adams/Davy project.
I ask James if she ever gets confused with Toni English. They look a lot alike. James said she gets that quite often and is telling me stories about when she was an escort in her early Twenties and how one time she got stiffed by a client. When I mention that she forgot the first rule of thumb- that you get your money first, James says the guy was a regular and gave her a story about how his wife broke up with him. Yeah, I know about stories when it comes to people owing you money. I think what I really like about James is she cuts out all the bullshit that some directors seem possessed of. When presented with a sequence involving a smoke machine, James wasn’t entertaining a committee hearing on the numerous possibilities of how it should be done. It was simply get the shot and move the fuck on.
Nick Manning, who perhaps plays a little too much nude air guitar, does a great scene- a romantic one- with Julie Meadows who’s showing great foot arches. I don’t see Chef Jeff in the kitchen with a drinking glass up to the wall listening for howls of pain so, instead, I compliment Julie on her feet. But now she’s wearing pink piggie slippers and is grabbing a quick smoke before doing a dialogue setup. She figures the arches probably coming from dancing. She danced in Texas and was discovered by Michael Raven before she came in the business in 1998. Her first shoot was with Ed Powers. Meadows, a frequent habitue of Porn Star Karaoke also tells me that once she gets some liquor in her she develops Tourette’s of the mouth. Julie just did her first ever girl-girl scene in the business- with Shay Sights the day before.
More to come